National Assembly Speaker, Justin Muturi. He is set to recapture his seat as National Parliament's Speaker on Thursday. [Photo: Nation]
Outgoing speaker of the 11th parliament, Justin Muturi is one of the only two people who has so far submitted their applications to be elected as National Assembly Speaker for the 12th Parliament.
In a statement, The National Assembly leaders had on Monday said that 21 people had picked the application forms seeking to vie for the National Assembly’s speaker. Of these, only Muturi and another yet to be revealed Kenyan had returned the duly filled forms ahead of Tuesday 9 am deadline.
The statement further revealed that the other candidate is not a member of parliament.
Standing Orders require that a candidate must be endorsed by at least 20 members of the August House to qualify.
"Only Justin Muturi has fulfilled this requirement by getting 83 signatures," the statement said.
The statement also indicated that three persons applied to be elected as Deputy Speaker. However, only Kuresoi North MP-elect Moses Cheboi had returned his forms. Cheboi had a backing of 80 signatures by Monday evening.
The outgoing Deputy Speaker in the 11th Parliament is the newly elected Bomet governor, Joyce Laboso.
Members of Parliament will on Thursday elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker after they are sworn in.